Item Get: Lanyard
by Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: There's four days of an expo, filled to the brim with anime and manga. The excitement of the first day might be too much.


Alphys knew about the various anime expos, of course. She would fish out laminated, folded paper that proudly declared the event. The popular anime for that year was plastered all over the guides. Sometimes she'd be lucky and find a huge book, half-soaked by the water, that detailed the events and panels at the expos. She would read the pages carefully, peeling apart the wet pages. It all looked and sounded exciting, a place where everyone was connected by anime.

But now that she was on the surface, it felt pretty overwhelming. Like her expectations were fragile, and would shatter in disappointment if it didn't completely match her impossible fantasies. With the right sales, a full four day ticket could be in her grasp but Alphys couldn't find it in herself to take the chance.

Undyne came home one day, a big, toothy grin on her face. She held two lanyards and a clothes hanger.

"Here," she said, putting the lanyard around Alphys' neck. Alphys looked at her girlfriend, confused, until she glanced down at the lanyard.

"How did you-" and she was too choked up to say anything else.

"You kept talking about that expo," Undyne explained. "In your sleep, too! It was loud! So I bought two tickets online and picked them up."

"Was it hard?"

"I went late today. It's day zero or whatever," Undyne continued. "I thought you didn't want to stand there for five hours so I got them now."

Alphys' vision blurred and she flung herself at Undyne.

"Thank you, thank you," she was blubbering. In her joyful state, an elation she didn't know was possible, she hoped she didn't get snot on Undyne's shirt.

"Hey, hey," Undyne said soothingly. "Look."

She passed the clothes hanger into Alphys' hands. She unzipped the bag. The magical girl outfit from Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie was inside, perfect for Alphys' size down to the last stitch. The tears started afresh. She expressed her thanks endlessly until Undyne patted her back.

"I'm going, too," she said. "I want to see recreation of Human history in action!"

Alphys laughed. It was a little shaky because of her tears, but she was beaming.

"So, we'll go tomorrow," Undyne said. "What do we need to do to get ready?"

They both got up early the next morning. Undyne got dressed quickly, as she was not in cosplay, and she went to make breakfast. She packed a backpack full of necessities the night before. A while later Alphys came into the kitchen, and explained the differences between the days at the expo.

"Day one is the busiest," she said as she pulled the chair out, "Day two is a good day to buy merchandise, day three is mostly for panels, and..."

She stopped because Undyne was wearing a Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie shirt. It was a little short for her, so Alphys could easily see Undyne's abdomen muscles. Alphys hoped her face didn't get too red.

"And day door, four," she stammered, "is when it starts to calm down."

Undyne put breakfast down on the table. "We'll leave after breakfast?"

There was already a large crowd, Human and Monster, mostly consisting of elaborate cosplay. Alphys and Undyne squeezed through the crowd, reaching a sponsor booth. It was nearby one of the management booths.

"Good morning," a Monster dressed in a uniform said. "Are both of you over eighteen?"

"Uh, um..."

"Yep!" Undyne declared.

"All right," the Monster said. She took out two wristbands from her bag. "If you put on these wristbands you will be able to go to the eighteen plus areas in the main hall."

Alphys' face felt very hot.

"Do you wanna go?" Undyne asked, her voice thankfully filled more with curiosity. Alphys hoped she didn't quite get the implications.

"No, it's okay," Alphys said rapidly.

"All right," the Monster replied brightly. "Have a good time at the expo!"

She turned to another person, and Alphys lead Undyne away from the management booth.

"What did she mean by eighteen plus?" Undyne asked.

Alphys' mind flashed back to the laminated guides. "It's, um, books about Humans... but more adult."

"Ah," Undyne said. "Good call. I don't wanna learn about Humans _that_ much."

Alphys awkwardly shifted her weight and said, mostly to draw the conversation away from the subject, "It should open in a few minutes."

Undyne put a hand on her shoulder and pointed. "Look at that!"

Alphys wasn't sure what she was pointing at - there were too many amazing costumes - but she followed Undyne's finger and saw a cosplayer dressed in all black, blazed red hair and holding a giant key.

"That's from-" but Alphys didn't finish because there was an announcement that the main hall was opened. Undyne shouldered the backpack and held onto Alphys' hand as the crowd filed into the main hall.

This hall took Alphys' breath away. There were booths as far as the eye could see, the products ranging from anime figurines, DVDs, video games, plush toys and outfits. Alphys wasn't sure where she wanted to look first.

Ultimately, they wandered from booth to booth, and eventually made it to a box structure where manga was being sold. Alphys went in alone; backpacks weren't allowed in the area and Undyne decided it was less trouble to just stay out. Alphys perused the walls, looking for something specific, when somebody called, "Hey."

She saw a Human girl, dressed in a long sleeve, green shirt and blue overalls. A princess doll in an orange dress was stuffed in the front pocket of the overalls.

"The Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie omnibus is over there," the girl said, pointing to the back.

"Thank you!" Alphys said. She went to the back and found the manga. Since it was a collection, it was a huge, thick book. Alphys immediately bought it and rejoined with Undyne.

A little while later they ate lunch and went back to walking around. When they were nearby a photo shoot area, a Monster dressed in a fancy school suit asked if he could take a picture with Alphys. There were more photo requests after that; Alphys was even able to be part of a photo with cosplayers dressed as other characters from Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie. She thought she would faint from happiness.

One requester told them, "If you go to artist alley, there's an artist in section C selling prints of Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie." He pulled out one print from his bag. The bag was stretched so thin that the anime figurine box inside was visible.

"Just a word of advice," he added. "Those mystery boxes near the front? Totally not worth it."

"Did he say section A or C?" Alphys asked.

"C," Undyne replied.

They shouldered through the crowd to that section. It seemed like it was even busier in artist alley. Undyne saw the prints first and pulled Alphys to it; Alphys gushed over the artwork for a little and ended up buying a poster. They had exhausted everything in the main hall so they spent the rest of the day in artist alley.

When they got home Alphys practically collapsed on the couch. Her legs screamed in agony and she desperately wanted to take a shower.

"You can go on ahead," Undyne said. "I gotta say, that was a great workout! Good for your legs."

Alphys made a noise of agreement before she dragged herself to the shower. The water felt like a blessing, and the clean pajamas even more so.

Undyne went in afterwards, and Alphys pulled out leftovers from the fridge. Undyne came out of the shower shortly after Alphys finished heating up the leftovers.

They ate dinner together on the couch, watching the new DVD Alphys bought.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Undyne asked as the ending theme played.

Alphys grinned. "Of course!"

**A/N: Originally posted on AO3 on February 1 2018**

**This was very much based on my experiences with my town's anime expo. It's so much fun but it can be really overwhelming!**

**I make a small cameo in this fic.**


End file.
